Marcus Fakana gets prison sentence in Dubai.

[Ohnonotmeagain]

This is the 18 year old lad who had a holiday romance with a 17 year old girl in Dubai. She was just short of 18.

her parents found out and reported him to the Dubai authorities before he returned home.

his poor parents aren’t well off and had to return home to work leaving him there.

he’s now been sentenced to 1 year in prison.

aibu to think this poor boy should never have been brought before court.

I know his lawyers are looking to appeal the sentence on the grounds that it was mishandled in the early stages (allegedly it should have been treated as a misdemeanour) so it will be interesting to see what happens.

This! People keep saying “but if this was in the UK you would want him jailed!”

Nope. Not me. And I think plenty others would agree.

I think if she was younger (or he was significantly older) then that would shift my view somewhat. But it seems a waste of time of all involved to jail somebody for a crime of mere months, that by all indications the girl was fully up for being with him and they are of the same emotional maturity and mental age.

I don’t think anybody, let alone teens, bother looking up age of consent laws when they travel.

But they were not in the uk were they they were in Dubai, so your strawman reply fails at the first hurdle.

London is in Britain last time I checked or has it moved country!! I don't think where the data centres are based has anything to with anything.

Sensible teens and families do before they travel. Dont judge every one by yours and Marcuses low standards.

Do you not know how hosting works? 🙄

You need to look up the meaning of the Straw Man fallacy and it is two separate words!

You need to look up hosting 😂

There is no point responding to this skymangentatwo person, they’re being purposefully obtuse and clearly out for a wind up

We have the most tech savvy teens ever. When I was their age, there was no internet, no computers, no phones that accessed instant information. If I wanted info I had to go to the library and hope I could find an answer. And despite that, we have young people who don't seem to think that other countries / cultures are different. Despite all the readily available info, they just can't be bothered to find out. And we live in a multi cultural country, and schools teach multiculturalism.
I knew when I was very young that things were different elsewhere. In other countries things are just different.

I asked about her being the property of her family and you chose to quote England and Wales legislation.

None of that legislation makes 17 years old the property of their family. Especially not when choosing who to date. Thus, your comment about him disrespecting her family (but not her disrespecting her own family) for embarking on a consensual relationship ship is asinine.

I am not interested in your childish ramblings and prefer to stick to conversing with the adults on the board.

Bye.

I did not say teens were not tech savvy.

I said nobody, let alone teens, looks up age of consent laws before they travel.

They especially don’t research if it is illegal for them to date their similar aged peer.

If you think most people do, I don’t know what to say.

How many of the countries you have visited over the years did you research their laws on age of consent before travelling?

Where did I say property? why do you keep trying to use a gotch for some thing I never said. How odd, at least quote words I use.

A quick check on the GOV.UK website is very informative. I would expect that.

That has zero to do with the fact that it is a British based forum.

People saying this 18 year old boy on holiday with his family should have looked up the laws on the age of consent need to remember their own youth I think! We did girls holidays to Benidorm, Malia and Ayia Napa and I couldn’t tell you the Spanish or Greek age of consent without googling it! This boy isn’t a rapist or a danger to women FFS he’s a daft teenage boy who had unadvisable sex with a teenage girl of similar age! A year in jail is very disproportionate.

Have you looked it up yet? just asking.

I don't want him jailed.
But I don't have a problem with other countries jailing people from other countries for breaking their laws, even if those offences wouldn't be crimes in the UK. It is up to the people visiting the countries to be aware of local laws. Ignorance of the law can never be used an excuse.

And a year in prison isn't the end of the world. Whatever he was planning to do this year, Uni, or whatever, he can do a year later.

You tell me as I really need it explaining how a data centre hosted in different countries has anything to do with Mumsnet being a British based forum, evident from the discussions and references to our laws and practices being common place on those discussions. Whilst you are at it can you also tell me the date that London was no longer considered a British city?

Care to quote exactly where I said London was no longer considered a British city?

Please enlighten me, let’s see how cleaver you are without making up lies.

A year in prison in a country the UK won't extradite to because of how inhumane the prisons are...

I agree with you.

"Also, this is a London based forums not a British forum"

Given that London is a British city then anything based there is British. The only way it could be "not British" is if London is not British.

You literally said it’s not a British site It’s a London site. Well being a London site would make it a British site. Clearly you are very cleaver